i am still afraid of birds.

one of my friends photographed another one of my friend’s weddings last weekend and was attacked by a goose.

in my opinion, this only confirms that my fear of birds is valid. why would a bird attack a photographer if the bird wasn’t truly evil?

of course i couldn’t remember the terminology for what a person who is afraid of birds is called, so i googled it and found the following article from wikihow.com, one of my favorite websites to peruse. not only does it offer REAL advice for overcoming fears, but it is also chockfull of articles with tips of how to do just about anything – like bathing your pet rabbit or how to be a metalhead. it also offers copious amounts of dating advice — the next date i go on is going to be top notch.

How to Overcome Fear of Birds {via wikihow} (italics are key points)

Ornithophobia is the fear of birds, and it can be very overpowering at times. But believe it or not, there is a way to overcome your fear without going through testing and spending a lot of money.

Steps

1. 

   Accept that you’re afraid. Keeping your phobia bottled inside doesn’t make you seem any stronger. The first step to getting rid of your fear is admitting you have a problem. You can’t rid yourself of something if you don’t believe you really have it. Look at yourself in the mirror, and say, “I have a fear of birds”. This will help you admit to yourself that you are afraid.

2. Know that you’re not alone. Many people have ornithophobia, including George W. Bush. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, as millions of people suffer this in the world, and they feel just like you. Don’t feel “defected”, or “weird” because you have a fear of birds.
3. Figure out what caused your fear. What does your ornithophobia link back to? Maybe when you were little, a bird escaped from the zoo during your visit. Or maybe you’ve witnessed a bird attack once in your life. There is almost always a reason as to why you’re afraid of something, and you need to go back to it.
4. 

   Realize that most of your fear is irrational. The chance of a mutant hawk attacking you from above is extremely low. {but what about a mutant goose? or a mutant vulture?} Catch yourself when you come up with these outrageous cases, and tell yourself that will never happen. For most people, telling themselves that it’s almost impossible for these things to happen do a great deal of good.

5. 

   Talk to someone. It doesn’t need to be a certified therapist, just someone who you trust. Explain to them what you’re afraid of, and why. Just getting your fears out helps. Talk to this person regularly, and give them updates on how you’re doing. {this was a good image selection, in my opinion.}

6. 

   Face your fear. Visit a zoo, or go to the park. Just go somewhere where there are bound to be birds. If you go to the park, feed the birds. Let them come close to you, and don’t tense up. If you go to a zoo, visit the bird section. Become comfortable with being close to the birds and being around them. After a few days of being close to birds, you should overcome your fear.

And there you have it.

trumpeter swan / vulture / owl

a collage

things i love this week

the song’s alright, but the animation is really pretty {via meetmeatmikes}

hands in pockets – laura gibson {via daytrotter}

and also this song

cash, check or credit!

i’m accepting monthly sponsorships so i can quit my job and make stop-motion movies all day long. i might even be able to see about getting you a tax write-off.

thank you for your consideration.

three things, three bones and (almost) three minutes of video

01. i went to the library after work today and found three chicken bones on top of a book about architecture. that was weird.

02. i didn’t want to touch them (gross) so i was going to tell the girl that checked my books out. i didn’t want children or seeing eye dogs to choke on the bones, you know?  i was distracted from telling her, though, by my 20 cent fine from april 1, 2005. yeah, that’s easy peasy to pay, but i’ve checked out lots of books since april 1, 2005. why did she tell me on the day i needed to tell her about the chicken bones?

03. this is completely ridiculous. it’s such an old navy song.

who has time for this?

gamey jamie

I am embarrassed to admit that I have spent an inordinate amount of time during the past week playing Super Mario Bros. The original version, in case you were wondering. One of the “perks” of my job is that sometimes I get free stuff. Like free admission to local “attractions.” Three groovy swivel chairs. A nintendo. (the gray and red one – the NES – complete with the first Mario bros., TETRIS!, Zelda and the baseball game that Fred Savage plays on The Princess Bride.) No benefits, (non-profit, holla!) but free 23-year-old nintendos for 23-year-olds! Awesome.

I grew up in a nintendo-less home (and cable-less, for that matter) until I was in 9th grade. Christmas, in 9th grade, to be exact. I don’t think my parents had a nintendo philosophy or anything, because I was allowed to play at will at friends’ houses. I think they just thought it was a waste of time. My parents aren’t big fans of wasting time. The nintendo we got when I was in high school (an N-64, in case you were wondering) was meant more for my brother, who was nine, at the time. My parents have no doubt learned that having a nintendo didn’t have any affect on that kid’s intelligence or creativity. He scored a 1550 on his SAT last month. (There’s a writing section now, so it was actually a 2210 or something, but math and verbal – 1550!) Holy smokes!

So, what I’m wondering is: What defines a “gamer”? I’m worried that I’m becoming one. We all know I have a history of addiction when it comes to Tetris. Growing up, my neighbors had the gameboy version. I eventually grounded myself from playing (what a kid I was!) because I had recurring nightmares of being smashed by blocks falling from the sky! I played a lot of it last summer too, thanks to freetetris.org. The nightmares about blocks didn’t return, thankfully – I guess my subconscious had bigger fish to fry.

Anyway, if you’re ever bored and want to come over and play some good old school nintendo and be a gamer, let me know. And, if you can show me how to beat the last “world” (8), I’ll bake you a cake!

SIDENOTES:

If you’d like to remember the theme song, check this guy out. WOW! Creepiness aside, it’s really impressive! I wonder if he ever says things like, “I don’t know what to do with my face!”

And, this is totally random, and entirely off-subject, but obnoxiously hilarious.

it wasn’t!

it’s may 15th.

when you’re young, grown-up people always tell you that when you get to be grown up, that time will fly by. i never realized how true that is until i graduated and started working. it’s not that i’m all that busy – i had a lot more going on while i was in school. i think, for me, it’s because there’s not really a definite time line for my job. i could work there another month, or for another year. who knows!?

when i was little, my mom and i would measure time using my favorite tv shows. for example: “it’ll take us six sesame streets to get to bobba’s (grandma’s) house” or “it’ll only take half a reading rainbow to get this room cleaned up if you’ll just do it.”

all that to say, this no deadline thing is really weird for me, and keeps messing me up. i keep talking to people about things that happened last fall like they happened last week. it’s nuts. the following is an example of something that i meant to write about a couple months ago, and never got around to doing. this is about 1872 gilmore girls late. that’s 3744 offices!!! (can you imagine watching that many!?)

said the gramophone is probably my favorite mp3 blog. i guess it’s kind of silly in a way because it isn’t the best one, in my opinion, and the way these boys talk about songs isn’t always exactly informative. they’ll write some eloquent emotional response to a track they post, and i’ll listen to it and think to myself that their description is totally wack. that isn’t always the case, though, and i’d always take those descriptions over, “you’ll like this band if you like this band” or “this band is like the love child of lil’ wayne and gillian welch if they lived next door to coldplay ” (who would be terrible, by the way!). i know that i describe bands to people that way, though, and i guess one of the best ways to explain something to someone is to take what they already know and apply it to whatever it is they have to learn. so, to each his own. said the gramophone is my favorite because they present their recommendations in the most creative fashion – and that’s what appeals so much to me.

last winter/spring they held a “Wonderful Video Contest.” (like i said, i meant to point to this a while ago) they invited their readers to submit a “video they love for a song they love” and they got some really cool stuff. people didn’t choose dumb songs, either, so that makes the whole thing that much better. it’s far more appealing than a gilmore girl’s montage to “go you own way” by fleetwood mac.

the videos are here. if you don’t have time to watch all of them, my favorite is this one:

http://www.vimeo.com/66616

they’re ranked pretty well, too. so you could go by that also. the one for the sufjan song (#11) is here now:

and this is just pretty cute.

movies

the best movie that i have seen lately is lars and the real girl.

this movie may be old news, because it was in theatres during the fall of ‘07, but – big surprise – it never came to theatres in abilene.

it came out on dvd like two weeks ago, and i think you should probably go rent it.

a good find

this was a really good find on a google image search.

fantastic